IT security services company SEC Consult on Wednesday disclosed the details of several unpatched vulnerabilities affecting IBM’s InfoSphere DataStage and Information Server data integration tools.
The flaws were reported to the vendor on May 23, but patches still haven’t been released. However, IBM has published advisories for each of the issues, providing recommendations on how to mitigate potential attacks.
SEC Consult discovered the vulnerabilities, which it has collectively classified as critical, in InfoSphere DataStage 11.5, but IBM determined that they also impact InfoSphere Information Server and DataStage versions 9.1, 11.3 and 11.5.
The most serious of the flaws, based on the 8.4 CVSS score assigned by IBM, is CVE-2017-1468. The security hole exists because the Director and Designer clients don’t check file signatures before loading and running executable files, allowing a local attacker to place arbitrary executable files in installation directories and escalate privileges.
Another high severity vulnerability is CVE-2017-1467, a weak authorization issue that allows attackers to execute arbitrary system commands.
“An unauthorized user could intercept communication between client and server, and replay certain DataStage commands without privileged access,” IBM said in its advisory.
An XML External Entity (XXE) injection vulnerability that can be exploited by a remote attacker to obtain arbitrary files from the client system (CVE-2017-1383) has also been classified as high severity.
Researchers also discovered that privileged users can trigger a memory dump that could contain highly sensitive information in clear text, including credentials. IBM was also informed that the application loads DLL files from its home directory without verifying them, which could lead to arbitrary code execution.
While patches have not been released for these security holes, IBM has provided mitigation advice for a majority of the issues – mitigations for the DLL hijacking flaw will be made available by November 30.
The tech giant told SEC Consult that the vulnerabilities will be addressed in a new client interface the company is working on.
“SEC Consult recommends the vendor to conduct a comprehensive security analysis, based on security source code reviews, in order to identify all vulnerabilities in the Remote Management platform and increase the security for its customers,” SEC Consult said in its advisory.
Related: IBM Patches XSS Flaws in InfoSphere BigInsights
Related: Attackers Can Target Enterprises via GroupWise Collaboration Tool
Eduard Kovacs (@EduardKovacs) is a contributing editor at SecurityWeek. He worked as a high school IT teacher for two years before starting a career in journalism as Softpedia’s security news reporter. Eduard holds a bachelor’s degree in industrial informatics and a master’s degree in computer techniques applied in electrical engineering.
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